This invention relates to a retail cash register or terminal, and more particularly, to the type of cash register used in grocery markets and the like.
The typical sales transaction in a grocery market involves the purchase of dozens of individual items, each having a different price and, in some cases, multiple units. Since grocery shopping is a necessity for nearly every family or living unit, and must be performed on a continual basis, the weekly or monthly cost of food purchased at a grocery is a major item in the domestic budget. Thus, many shoppers enter the grocery market with a fixed limit on the amount of money they can spend for groceries during a given transaction.
For those shoppers who are limited in the amount they can spend during a given transaction, the fact that dozens of items are typically purchased during a transaction makes it difficult to monitor, while shopping, the total price represented by the accumulated prices of the items the shopper removes from the shelf and places in the shopping basket. Although a pocket calculator or the like could be carried by the shopper and the price of each item entered as the item is placed in the shopping basket, only a small fraction of shoppers can be expected to devote the effort and care required to accurately record dozens of items in this fashion.
As a result of the foregoing factors, it is a common occurrence in almost every grocery market for a shopper to fill the shopping cart with items having a total price that exceeds the amount of money the shopper has brought to the market or can otherwise afford to pay. This disparity often does not become evident until the cashier has entered all items in the cash register and obtained a total bill for presentation to the customer. At that moment, the customer realizes that he or she cannot pay for all the items purchased, and that some items must therefore be deleted from the transaction.
The typical procedure for deleting items from a completed transaction requires that the cashier call the store manager, fill out a form to void the cash register entries corresponding to the items to be returned, and make a series of voiding entries in the register. In busy markets, where several shoppers can be in line for each register, the delays associated with voiding items to be returned due to the shopper's exceeding his monetary limit, can be frustrating to other shoppers and the cashier, embarrassing to the customer, and generally disruptive to the smooth and efficient checkout operation of the market.